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March 17, 2011

If you've tried your hand at raw edge applique and free motion quilting you will know full well how important it is to be able to see your work clearly ... particularly if you want a precise finish.

Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it ... but you will be amazed at how many darning / quilting feet don't provide a very clear view of your work. I love the Bernina #24 foot ... it works like a dream ...

... no problems with vision here!

I would have to say though, that the majority of people that I teach my techniques to use a Janome. There are two different Janome quilting feet that most people have ....

... this enclosed clear one, which looks like it would be perfect to work with ... but as it turns out it's absolutely awful as the plastic distorts your visual field, making precision stitching almost impossible... particularly for a novice.

the second one is very similar, however, it has the front section removed ... this helps a bit but the foot is still quite hard to work with.

A couple of weekends ago I finished off a workshop with a group of girls from Ballarat Patchwork and one of the students had this rather wonderful Brother foot on her machine that worked extremely well ...

It is a Brother Free Motion Open Toe Quilting Foot - Model # F061

...and what's even more exciting .... this foot fitted the other Janome machine in the class! This really is wonderful news for those of you who have been struggling with your clear plastic Janome feet!

Just a word of warning though .... do make sure that the foot suits your Janome before you purchase it ... or make sure that you can return it if it doesn't suit your specific model before you hand over your money.

Thank you to Kirsty for doing all of this research ... you are a gem!!!! Even though there was a lot of procrastnisation in your general area in the class!!!!! LOL!

Last weekend we spent a lovely, lazy, long weekend hanging out at home with the kids who all had stacks of fun trying out their new wheels!

Megan gave her little brother some very helpful pointers ...

and it wasn't long before he was flying all on his own!

I think that there are going to be a lot of cycling weekends on the horizon!

Something completely off the track before I head off .... my computer's hard drive fried the week before last ... taking with it all of my emails, contacts and so many other things that it makes me nauseous to think about .... so if you have emailed me with a question or if you know I need your contact details please either shoot me a quick email or resend the original query so that I can get back to you as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and that it's filled with lots of quilting .... made so much easier now you can see where you're sewing!!!!! I've finally gotten to the final stretch of my latest project ... only background quilting left to do now - the best bit, but more on that soon!

February 11, 2010

Sunday the 10th of January was the second anniversary of Don't Look Now! ... yes, yes I know I'm a little late!

It now seems hard to believe that there was life before blogging ....

I have no idea what I did with my time before Don't Look Now!!!

... other than run around after this lot of course!!!

Blogging has been so good for me in so very many ways!

I have gotten to know so many wonderful people through blogging ...

it has provided me with a creative distraction in a time of my life where it was so desperately needed ...

... and quite unexpectedly ... blogging has paved the way toward a whole new career ....

... a whole new direction in my life that I would never have thought possible two years ago when I first clicked on Save Post ...

Thank you!

... to all of you! It certainly wouldn't be as much fun without you!!!!!

Now we all know that one can't have a Blogaversary with out a giveaway!!!! So if you leave a comment here between now and mid night on the 25th of February (Australian EST) you will have the opportunity to collect one of these three prizes...

Two people will each collect a copy of my pattern How does your garden grow, A Quilter's Diary (featuring stacks of beautiful quilts by some amazing people including Tracey, Claire & me!), a packet of Lite Steam-A-Seam2 & 2m of Floriani Stitch & Wash Fusible

Finally, if you purchase any one of my patterns from any of my retailers between now and 12 midnight Australian EST on the 25th of February (must be in this time period please) and you send me confirmation of this via email before midnight on the 26th of February, I will randomly draw one person who will receive the original Thank you!cushion (see above) plus a Country Life Diary & a packet of Lite Steam-A-Seam2 & 2 metres of Floriani Stitch & Wash Fusible.

There are some new retailers too just to make this a little easier for you ...

Mary & Donna traveled all the way from Canberra to join us!!! Donna is lucky enough to work at Addicted to Fabric! I am so looking forward to my trip there in a couple of weeks! Donna had a very beautiful pack of fabric with her that they sell with together with my patterns at A2F ...

Not bad?!!!! Makes you just want to go buy some fabric doesn't it???!!!!

Thank you guys for a really terrific weekend!!!! There are many other photos to share from the weekend but for now I need to finish up and get some sleep ... I'll post them on Flickr in the next few days.

So what's next in the house of Don't Look Now ... well .... I'm off to Patchwork House in the morning for my first workshop there for the year!

... and on Saturday I will be scooting off to Ballarat for the last day of a workshop that we started a couple of weeks ago ... these guys came from far and wide!!!

I can't wait to see how you guys are coming along ... but more on this next week!

Just a thought for those of you who are locals and have been thinking about joining the Joseph's Coat Quiltalong but either haven't gotten around to it yet or maybe you might like a little more coaching ... if you are interested in coming along to a class to get you started or over a hump then email me and we will look into setting something up.

Good luck with the give away and thank you again for all of your support over the past two years!

Enjoy what's left of the week!

Kellie

PS. Finally we have a Sydney class!!! Woooo Hoooo! Go take a peek!!!!!!

January 04, 2010

Hi guys ... sorry for the unexpected and rather longer than anticipated break in transmission! December proved to be a very busy month for Don't Look Now and even busier for the Don't Look Now family!

I hope you all have had a terrific Christmas and safe New Year!

So many things happened here throughout December but it all seems so long ago now that I will just skip it and give you all just one Christmas morning photo ...

We took a short break away in Warrnambool from Boxing day until yesterday.

I really love spending time here ...

not only is it a beautiful town ....

but it is also a wonderful place to spend family time ...

and to catch up on some sewing!!!!

... after many hours spent watching the kids playing and swimming and playing some more I have finally caught up with the Joseph's Coat schedule and I am now working on the tutorial for the next step which I will post later this week. I will also do a round up and post all of the incentive winners then as well ... sorry for the delay with this but time is not my friend of late!

I finally sent Lilly Pilly on her way last month to my dear Anna and she arrived just in time for a white Christmas!!!

I designed another little project specifically for the class to practice on ... this time it had a Christmas twist. I have called this little one First Day of Christmas.

I also partly made another to go with the pastel Christmas theme I have going on this year.

Valerie who is in black sitting beside me in this photo is also joining us in the Joseph's Coat Quilt Along! You can also see some of my blocks in the bottom of this photo. Valerie has even made herself a lovely case to keep her blocks in! But I'll show you that later ...

Standing beside me is Megan! Megan used a brown spot for her tree trunk not such a great photo but it really looked spectacular!

This is Valerie's project ... looks wonderful doesn't!

This is Linda who worked really hard and got some great results!

This is Louise & Kathy who were both absolute stars!!!!

This is Kathy's first practice!

... and well what can I say about Louise who just took to this like a duck to water!

Janette (left) struggled until she got herself a 'proper' machine to play with ;). Helen took her new machine out for a spin and really created a great little practice piece...

Janette with a borrowed Bernina 440!

Helen plans to bind and back her pillow with some beautiful French General fabric so I can't wait to see the finished project.

Linda worked really hard preparing her projects

Carolyn got right into it and had her practice piece ready to bind by the end of the day on Sunday!

Meridith, on the other hand, whilst her work was excellent ... spent far too much time SMSing her friends trying to make them jealous!!!

Julie worked on the First Day of Christmas using all of my very best fabrics!!!!

Daniele ... a quiet achiever sat and slogged away and really produced some stella work!

This is Ann's project. Ann is currently also working on Lilly Pilly. She has decided to use raw edge on the leaves rather than turning the edges. I can't wait to see how you get on with it Ann!

Lisa came all the way from Sydney to surprise her sister Gai and to take part in the class with her! Sorry that the photo isn't that clear girls. That's Leanne in the background ... so you can be certain that this crappy photo wasn't taken by her!

I have left a couple of my quilts visiting with Lorraine so if you are in the area and would like to take a peek make sure you stop by!

Anna.. your Lilly Pilly loved visiting with the girls in Adelaide .... and I have to admit that she has now taken a quick trip here before she makes her way to the other side of the world to finally settle down to a calmer home life with you! For the rest of you guys Anna has a rather spectacular Advent Calender tutorial on her blog at the moment so you should take a quick peek.

Oh and remember that little paper bag at the start of these photos ... well I had to fill it with something before I came home!

I am collecting greens at the moment for something I hope to make a start on in the new year...

This one is my absolute favorite!!!!!

It just screams backing fabric don't you think?

I am trying something a little different with my photos of fabric ... if this works correctly you should be able to swipe your cursor over the fabric photos and the names of the fabrics should be listed so that you can find them if you want to ... if I know the names that is ;)

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Josephs Coat - First Month Round Up!

I think that we are off to a sterling start! Well done to everyone who has already started posting their progress photos on the Flickr page. Sadly, many of you have now overtaken me so maybe I will need to bring in penalties for making the Host look bad ... just kidding!!! I have just made a start on my 8th block ... there has been so much happening here of late ... I'm sure now that all of my teaching engagements are over for the rest of the year, I will have time to get stuck into it again!

So here are all of the people who have managed to finish at least 6 blocks which was the last target...

Don't Look Now! Quiltsalot

Quilts & Threads Good4Once

Marielle (first to 7 blocks) Gina Quilts

Tamara Farm Girl Birrabank

Love Laugh Quilt

From these I had Joshua pull a name from a hat (well actually it was a bowl ...... oh and obviously my name wasn't included!) and he came up with Tamara Farm Girl who I will send off a copy of How does your garden grow? (please email me your details Tamara)

Finally I have to also mention my favorite project so far which is this one ...

mind you Cabbage Quilts AKA Cathy hasn't sewn down her petals yet and still isn't convinced that her background colour is quite right!!!!??? Go figure! Anyway I love these colours and I think she also deserves a pattern so make sure you email me your details Cathy!

The next goal is 9 blocks which we should have finished by the end of next week ... from there, there will only be 5 more blocks to go before we put together our first two rows!!!

Next set of incentives ....

A pattern for one of the people who post a photo of their first 9 finished blocks

One pattern for a random photo chosen from those posted between now and the next review.

Plus one more ... but I will need to think a little more as to how I will dish this one out.

I have also had a few suggestions that it may be fun to have simultaneous get togethers / sew-ins all around the world for those joining in with the quiltalong ... what do you think? Obviously this would need to be after Christmas now ... but I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you everyone for playing along so nicely and for also making this a fun project to host!!

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I hadn't intended to show you this until next post but what the heck .... the girls at Hettie's got to take a peek so it isn't a secret any more ;) ....

this is the latest little tid bit that I have been playing with. It's called With Love From Me. This project has been designed specifically with Christmas in mind however the pattern will include a couple of alternative ideas and templates to make it suitable for other purposes such as a child's Christening or to commemorate a birth or what ever really! The pattern should be ready by early next week.

Before I go there are a few things that you wont want to miss this week!!!

Ballarat Patchwork are having their annual 20% off sale this week!!! This is for online orders as well!!!

GJ's Discount Fabrics (still blogless!!!) are also having a sale all week 25% off! I spent my pocket money there yesterday ....

Addicted to Fabrics who are located in the ACT are also having a sale this weekend ... and if you stop by you will find Oh Christmas Tree, Lilly Pilly, Love BIrds, Willow & several of the Pretty 'n Pink pillows visiting their store ... they will be enjoying a month visiting with Jenny and her entourage ... wish I could have come too .... I have long wished to visit this shop!

Now go and do some serious fabric shopping guys ... quickly ... before you waste all your money on frivolous things like food, Christmas Presents and the like ;) !!!

Enjoy your week!

Kellie

PS. Pretty much all of the photos that I have used from the Hettie's workshop have come from the Master!! Well certainly the good ones anyway!!! Make sure you go take a look at Leanne's blog her photos really are inspiring! Thanks Leanne!

Oh so frustrating ... so what to do about the other two parts of the giveaway? ..... I collected the emails that were sent to me telling me of their link to the ppost and pulled out ....

Cass from Cass's craft room who linked to the giveaway post. I will be sending Cass the Wish you were here cushion. Thanks Cass for going to the trouble of linking!

Likewise, I did the same for those who notified me of a pattern purchase and ......

Blogless Amanda who had bought both of the new patterns last week has now desided to also collect Oh Christmas Tree.

Both of these two extras winners will also recieve the 2 giveaway patterns. Thank you so very much everyone for joining in!

Now, as I was saying .... the weekend before that I spent in Adelaide really was a spectactular weekend! Lorraine together with her wonderful staff really put together a weekend with the lot for those who came along for the ride!

I desgned this little cushion top called Wish you were here to use as practice to get the raw edge technique right before jumping headlong into the class project which of course was Willow.

Each of the girls recieved a Goodies bag....

.... & a spectacular name badge .... (eat your heart out Linda & Sue!!!!!) .... these were all expertly made by Leanne ... she has also kindly put together a tutorial so that you can make your very own!!!!!

Thank you so much guys for a brilliant time and for working so hard! You all achieved a great deal!! Make sure you pop around and visit all of the girls blogs to see their finished projects and their works in progress! ...and guys don't forget to add your pictures to the Flickr album!

This amazing quilt top is being lovingly put together BY HAND!!!!!!! The most beautiful Karen, who played 'runner' for the Hettie's Patch weekend, is finishing the edges of her version of Meg's Garden using a blanket stitch!

... an amazing effort and absolutely beautiful work. You are my hero Karen!!!

I also have another version of Meg's garden to show you all ...

... this quilt was made by Roma, who attended the Ballarat Patchwork class earlier in the year! I love this quilt with my favorite coloured background! The class project Sweet Little Garden pillow is also sitting there on the bed! Well done Roma!

Jacob's Coat Quilt Along ...

Thank you to everyone for bearing with me and filling out the Mr Linky thingy ... you have saved me hours and hours of work!!!! At the time of posting this entry there were 164 people signed up! I also appreciate everyones understanding regarding the incorrect naming of the Floriani stabliser!

I have had a few questions that I am sure there are more than a hand full of you wondering about ... so I have started a Frequently Asked Questions page - there is a link to this page on the main quilt along page ... hopefully Typepad doesn't have a limit on pages!!! I have also included an option for those of you, and there are a LOT of you, that want to join in and don't have a blog.

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This year Homespun has run a spectular block of the month program that I am sure you will all be famillar with. THis quilt has been donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to raise much needed funds for this amazing organisation. Please take a peek at the Homespun Blog to see how you can also help. Homespun will be running another block of the month program next year ... I have a block that is going to be included ... I can't wait to see how the quilt looks as I am among some pretty amazing designers!!

OK I'm off to bed as I have managed to pick up a bug that is making me feel totally crap ... but I will be back on Sunday with the first tutorial for the Quilt Along!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Kellie

PS. Thanks to all of you who attended the workshop who allowed me to use your photos in this post! Much appreciated guys!

August 25, 2009

We finally celebrated Ben's 7th birthday on Sunday ... and what a whole lot of exciting fun it was too!

We took Ben and a few of his best friends to the Circus!

There were loads of amazing magic tricks, stacks of scantily clad women who appeared and disappeared from various different boxes, jaw dropping acrobatic feats, a woman who managed to balance on a over-sized disco ball while dancing with more hula hoops than I have seen in my entire life time and three totally loony motor bike riders that all rode around together, at great speed, in a metal sphere!!!!!

... and then we had cake!

Happy 7th birthday ... yet again my sweet boy!

While I'm reflecting upon late celebrations there is one more that needs to be addressed ... that elusive 100th post celebration that I have been putting off for the past 7 posts ...

I finally put on my skates and finished my new tree quilt ... that I have called Lilly Pilly.

I just love this quilt ... it has turned out even better than I had hoped that it would ... sorry about the photos it is a little gloomy here today and I didn't want to wait any longer!

One person who leaves a comment to this post will get to take this quilt home with them ... but there is one catch ... if you want to play along you will have to agree to wait a little while before it comes to live with you as I need to have it to display on my stand at the Australian Quilt Market in November of this year....

So do you want to play along ... are you prepared to wait to collect the quilt? Cool!

To enter the giveaway you must leave a comment on this post between now and midnight Australian EST on 2nd of September. As always there are a couple of extra ways that you can rack up extra entries ...

if you purchased one of my last batch of patterns during the preorder period you will receive an extra 10 entries (please note preorder in your comment)

if you link to this giveaway in a post on your blog then you will collect an extra 3 entries ... if you do this please let me know by emailing me hereand noting Giveaway Link in the subject field.

If you have included a picture of something that you have made using one of my patterns on the Don't Look Now - your take on my designs Flickr group page (more on this a little later in this post) then you will rack up an extra 5 entries - let me know by emailing me here and noting Flickr Picture in the subject field. (this includes pictures from my old album that still lives in my side bar - if one of these pictures are yours that I have already downloaded into Flickr please make sure you email me and let me know because I have a feeling that collating these entries is going to be a headache!)

As promised if you have left a comment on any of my last 8 posts and you win the quilt you will receive an extra little something ... these posts have now had the the comments closed during this giveaway period to make sure that the regular commenter's aren't disadvantaged.

In addition to this ... if you have purchased a pattern from me or any of the retailers who stock my patterns and you win the quilt you will also receive an extra little something. The pattern needs to be purchased before the end of this giveaway & you will need proof of purchase.

Just a word of caution though ... if you happen to claim any of the extra entries and you aren't entitled to them then you wont be able to play along! Fair is fair! I will be checking!

In addition to the Lilly Pilly Quilt I will giveaway another 10 of the How does your garden grow patterns

and 5 of the new Love grows free patterns.

Other than this bit of excitement I have a heap of other things to share with you all about the past weeks happenings ....

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon with the NOTY Quilters Guild last Saturday! I loved sharing my quilting experiences with such a receptive and friendly bunch of women! Thank you all so much for making me feel so welcome! Unfortunately I don't have any photos just yet of meeting but I will post them once I do.

This past Saturday I got up supper early ... early for a Saturday that is ... packed the Bernina in into the Mazada and zoom zoom zoomed ...

Poor Pam soldered on despite ill health and did incredibly well considering she could hardly breathe! Have you checked your stash Pam to make sure I didn't make off with piece of fabric you have there!

This is Keri and she is a Sewing Machineaholic ... I wont tell you how many sewing machines she has at home just in case I get it wrong ... I wouldn't be surprised if she bought another one on the way home from the class ... no only kidding ... you know I'm just jealous! Keri also picked up the technique incredibly quickly and hopefully you all will get to admire her version of Oh Christmas Tree on the Flickr page very soon!

Katrina is the most delightful girl who sells hand made clothing among other things at local markets. She hadn't done any quilting to speak of before the class ... and although she wouldn't admit to it, she worked really hard at getting the hang of this skill and did some fantastic work!

Roma, who is a seasoned quilter and is accomplished at hand applique, took to raw edge like a duck to water!! I am really looking forward to seeing your version of Rainbow Lollipops & Garden Party Roma!!

And for some reason or another, Yvonne you managed to escape the focus of my lens ... I'm so sorry! Please send me a picture Yvonne so that I can share your project with everyone! But for now my sample will sit where your work should be!

Thank you so much guys for a lovely day! It was great to get to know you all and to meet some people who found me through other sources other than my blog!

Ballarat Patchwork are also now stocking my patterns if you are over that way make sure you drop in ... it is well worth the trip ... once you peek inside you will understand why I drool over this shop! Just in case you are looking for the Hankie Linen that I use alot in my projects they keep a good range of the colours in stock. They also have a great on-line shop as well for those of you that a just too far away to drop in.

.. that's my fabric Emma's cutting up! Oh and by the way Jodie I'm still more than a little bit pissed that I didn't get to see you!!!

Creative Quilting a UK based shop in Surrey in the UK has also just started stocking my patterns this past week! Make sure you pop in if you happen to be in the area ... and don't forget to say I sent you!!!! They also have a beautiful on line shop!

As always with new retailers if you happen to be the first person to contact me after purchasing one of my patterns from either Ballarat Patchwork or Creative Quilting then I will send you out a copy of either How does your garden grow or the Love Grows Free pattern ... your choice :)

I also received a lovely comment on my last post from Sarah from Sewn & The last piece on Saturday morning...

Hey Kelly - NOT entering the competition, just letting you know that I am at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, and what did I see today? A stand selling your patterns, with samples made up looking very nice, and lots of ladies poring over the selection! Most exciting for Don't Look Now!

... the stand belonged to Dungarees & Daisies you made my day Sarah! Thank you so much for letting me know! I have asked Jen to send me some pictures of her stand to share with you ... apparently she had Kaffe admiring her samples!!!!!

Finally the giveaway winners from my last post ...

Marie Joze from Handmade by Mai left the 5th comment ... Mai has just finished some very nice bags and she is a Bernina girl so well worth a peek ... Mai also won some of my pattern a few weeks ago after leaving my 3000th comment!

Anna from Thimbleanna who left the 8th comment .... I owe you more than a pattern Miss Anna!!! If you don't know Anna then really you can't be a serious blogger! Go take a peak at the life of Anna ... I dream of being Anna's sister, or her daughter or daughter-in-law or even her cat!

Blogless Leanne who left the 63rd comment ....

Mary from Mary on Lake Pulaski left the 75th ... Mary must be on a winning streak as she just won one of Melly & Me Bon Bon bag patterns ... very nice bag Mary!!!!

Larissa from Flutter By Corner left the 80th comment .. Larissa has been working on her free motion stitching skills and things are looking great over her way ... but if you scroll down the page you will see why you must remember to remove your safety pins!!! Close one Larissa!

The gorgeous Sandy Gray from The Silver Thimble left the 95th comment ... Sandy stocks my patterns and is now an expert at inserting zips with a flap!!!

Last but not least blogless Julie Anne who left the 117th comment.

Congrats guys! I will send out each of you a copy of the How does your garden grow pattern as soon as I have your snail mail details.

One more 'final' cool thing from my last post, that I just realised, is that blogless Tammy Spencer left my 4000th comment ... I will send Tammy both of the giveaway patterns to celebrate! Thanks Tammy and to all of you for taking the time visit & to leave a comment! I very much appreciate it!!

Enjoy your week and good luck with the belated 100th post giveaway! Kellie

PS. Remember I mentioned the Don't Look Now Flickr group page earlier on .... well it is up and running. I have transferred all of the photos from the old album in my side bar to the group page. Make sure you take a peek and make sure you goin the group! If you leave some photos please make sure you let us know which pattern or tutorial you used and any other information you might like to share - such as the fabrics you used, quilting pattern etc. I hope that this place will become a source of great inspiration for us all!

****Edit September 3 ... just after midnight ,,, thank you all for entering this giveaway! What an amazing responce! I am so thilled that you like this quilt as much as I do. The giveaway is now closed & I have closed the comments for now. I am going to need a day or so to sort out all of the entries ... so see you back here Friday or Saturday. Kellie ****

August 15, 2009

Miss Jessie celebrated her 7th birthday in style with her three very best friends last Sunday. This year she had a baking party ... for four hours they measured, weighed, stirred, rolled, baked & giggled while preparing all of the food for the party!

It was a great party theme and they really enjoyed the novelty of baking then eating all of the yummy treats. I made each of the kids apron to keep from the gorgeous cup cake fabric I showed last post. We also put together a little bag of baking tools as favours and they each took home some samples of the treats they made.

I will put together a tutorial & pattern for this apron once the new tree quilt is finished ... for those of you who are interested.

Happy Birthday yet again my dear sweet Jessie!

It has been an eventful couple of weeks which sort of explains my absence ...

My very first workshop came and went and I enjoyed every minute of it ... mind you I couldn't have chosen a better place or group of women to begin this whole teaching adventure with! The day before the first class I designed a new pillow .... Love Grows Free ...

I intended it to be a gift for the students in the class ... but as I was putting it together it dawned upon me that it would be an excellent project to use for practicing raw edge applique & the free motion stitching detail that I use in most of my designs ... so that's what we did on the first day. On the second day the some girls came prepared to get stuck into their Sweet Little Garden pillow ... and others decided to further perfect their newly found skills finishing off their practice project ...

These hands and this project belong to Christine who is now the proud owner of a Bernina 440 from Kates Sewing Centre. Enjoy your holiday Christine!

Debbie put together a lovely version of the practice project on the first day and then wrestled with her sewing machine that went a little feral on the second day ... I hope you have tamed that savage beast Debbie and enjoy your weekend of sewing bliss!!!

Esther focused on the practice project and was sewing up a storm without her stitch regulator in no time! Don't forget to wear your gloves Esther!!!

Kirsty picked it all up quickly ... and managed to even make a start on her Sweet Little Garden pillow!

Jane, a lover of all things blue, also picked up the technique quickly and managed to work on both projects ... don't the blue and green look a treat!!

Last but not least was Anita ... who is also in the middle of putting together Rainbow Lollipops ... make sure you take a peek it is looking fabulous!

Thank you guys for making this new experience a good one! I was lovely getting to know you all! You can see some more photos of the classes here. Next Saturday I'm off to Ballarat Patchwork for a one day class .... brace yourselves girls I intend to work you hard!

Tomorrow (correction today ... it was tomorrow when I started writing this!!) I am spending the afternoon at the North of the Yarra Quilters Guild meeting ... well to be more accurate I am going to be their guest speaker .... I am not quite sure what I am going to be talking about just yet but I'm sure I will think of something. Gorgeous blogless Debbie (featured on the guilds home page) who roped me into this suggested that I should tell a few funny stories ... my husband thought that I should tell that one about the Rabbi, the Catholic Priest & the Buddhist Monk .... but I don't reckon that's quite what Debbie had in mind! If you are a local and would like to come along I would love to see you there! The group gathers from 10am and the meeting starts at around 1pm. I will be talking from around 1.30pm until about 1.35pm ... no only kidding!

A month ago Marie form Moon Daisy emailed me a picture of her version of the Flower Garden pillow... isn't it lovely?!!!

... I feel embarrassed that it has taken me this long to share it with you all ... it has made me realise, though, that I really need to bite the bullet and start up a Don't Look Now Flickr Group ...this will be my job for next week ....

But until then you really need to take a look at Quilts & Threads ... Marie has managed to finish Meg's Garden ... already!!! It looks fantastic Marie ... thank you so much for sharing!

Penny still has a collection of my things on show in her Sunshine Coast store if you are holidaying in the sun and are hankering for a bit of fabric shopping!

You may remember me mentioning the Silver Thimble when they began stocking my patterns ... a couple of weeks ago they had a Stitch the Don't Look Now way afternoon .... I wish I could have been there, looks like it wood have been a lot of fun!

I have had several more retailers start stocking my patterns over the past couple of weeks ...

Cow Paddocks is another Queensland store that sounds quite amazing ... it is owned by Julie Latcham. The shop is located on their Beef Cattle property off the Warrego Highway. She runs classes & has a coffee shop on site! She also offers a roaming service to those truly rural women. Julie specialises in mail orders!

Blueberries is located in Wyong on the New South Wales coast they now have a little Don't look Now on their shelves! After lurking around their site for a bit I am convinced that they have a very beautiful looking shop ... which I am going to get to visit next year because I am going to be holding some weekend workshops there!!!! YAY!!!! The dates are still to be confirmed but if you would like to come along please give Jackie a ring or send her an email to let her know you are interested.

Patchwork House in Hawthorn have new stock of all of my patterns too if you live locally ... they are also stocking Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 if you are searching for it.

... there are some more to list ... but I will wait until next week to mention them as the patterns have a long journey ahead of them before they reach their final destination.

I am offering a free copy of How Does Your Garden Grow to the first person who contacts me after buying one of my patterns from any of these three stores ... you will need proof of purchase.

Last but not least the winners from my last posts giveaway ...

First up we have the lovely Linda form All Stitched Up who left the 17th comment ... I love stopping by and seeing the lovely things that Linda is dabbling in!

Blogless Carrie L who left the 31st comment ...

Blogless Anne who left the 70th comment ...

Kim from All things Mum who left the 74th comment ... have fun at the show next week I wish I could be there!!!

Congrats guys I will send each of you a How Does Your Garden Grow pattern next week.

There will will be 8 patterns up for grabs this post! This giveaway runs until I publish my next post. Just in case you are new here and haven't a clue about this giveaway ... you can find the details here ...

Thanks for hanging in if you managed to make it all the way through this post ... which I had the pleasure of writing TWICE ... thanks to our crappy wireless router!!!

May 29, 2009

For a few weeks now I have been slogging away with my hand stitching. I have resisted the urge to turn on the Bernina. A little germ of an idea crept into my thoughts earlier in the week and it has been nagging me ever since ... this morning after dropping off the kiddos I decided that resistance was futile ...

I love you Bernina 820 ... I truly do!

I should have actually been doing Mr DLN's books .... oops don't tell him please!!!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Kellie

PS. If you have had trouble opening my blog this week could you please shoot me an email and let me know what your computer shouted when it happened ... so that I can let Typepad know. Thanks!

September 27, 2008

OK so here is the Art Smock tutorial as promised. I have included it in PDF format for you to download as I would have been here until next week trying to get Typepad to cope with it!

It was a little tricky trying to work out how I would include the pattern pieces but I finally decided that a PDF file would have to do.

Oh and I almost forgot ... because we have enough art smocks here to sink a ship I am going to give away the two that I made for this pattern. If you would like one then leave me a comment by midnight (Australian EST) Friday the 3rd of October. Don't forget to let me know which one you would like! Also for all of my regulars who would like to join in you will get an extra entry for each comment that you left over the last 10 posts.

You will find the link to the download of the tutorial here and if you would like the pattern pieces they are here;